A Thousand Times
by Jeccelo
Summary: A collection of passages I write every night around 1 or 2, about Riku and Kairi and their fluffy romance.
1. Story 1: When Words Matter

A THOUSAND TIMES

A collection of Riku-and-Kairi-related passages

Story 1:

WHEN WORDS MATTER

by Jeccelo

Ok, I just love Riku from Kingdom Hearts so much, he's like my most favorite anime guy ever-- and he's such a freakin hottie so what's he doing without a girlfriend???, and he just happens to like Kairi so wow! how convenient for a fanfic! It was 1 in the morning and I was tired but didn't want to go to bed, as all 14-year-olds don't, so I whipped this up... finished it around 2... Hehehe i was listening to Anakin Skywalker & Padme Amidala's love theme while I wrote this... ;) i don't entirely "ship" these two, but i don't mind them together either, so hey what the heck? This takes place a little after KH2-- Hope you guys like it :D

_When Words Matter_

_"You come out here and do this every evening," she said, eyeing him fondly.  
"So do you." He didn't return her gaze.  
"I know."  
"So why get after me about it?"  
"Your reaction."  
"You find something amusing about my indifference?"  
"You don't seem very indifferent right now."_

_Riku chuckled._

_"I guess not."  
Kairi sighed._

_"Have you ever wondered why the sunset is orange?"  
"Just orange? It looks more... pinkish-reddish-orangeish-yellowish mesh to me."  
"Well?"_

_"Nah. I've learned not to wonder about too many things."  
"Like what?"  
"Like what? I just told you I try not to wonder."  
"I know, but if you're avoiding thinking about them, they must be pretty personal."  
"Which is exactly why you want to know; oh, yes, I know you so well."_

_"Okay, fine, Riku, sit there and ignore me if you want."_

_He glanced at the smile on her face._

_"Do you find me attractive?"  
Kairi laughed._

_"What? You're my best friend."  
"All the more reason to know."  
"Cut it out."  
"I'm dead serious."  
"Good. Because so am I. Look at that, don't we have so much in common?"  
"Yeah, it sure gets annoying from time to time."_

_She considered for a moment.  
"Say something charming, and I'll let you know in return."_

_"Nice to know I don't on a regular basis."  
"I didn't say that. Now come on, I'm waiting. Something really breathtaking. I know you can do it."_

_"Sure I can. There's just so many lines to choose from."  
"No loser phrases, now. I heard enough of those back home."_

_"Yeah, so did I."_

_"Heh. You wish girls would talk flirt to you."_

_"What are you talking about? I hear it all the time right here on this island."  
"Ah-ha, ha."_

_  
_A thousand heartbeats had passed since those words. She had probably forgotten. He didn't mind-- his mind was tasting the salt in the waves before him. A thousand and one, a thousand and two...

The bleeding sky was another sea mirroring the first, waves of color clashing together in a beautiful, silent storm. A thousand and seven. A thousand and eight...

The dancing light was another adventure just waiting to be forged, caressing his appetite. But he resisted it with uncharacteristic ease, his gaze drifting down to be hidden in the platinum bangs fortressing his brow. He watched the sunset paint the curving shadows on his folded arms, on the baggy folds of his pants. He glanced to his right and saw Kairi's shadow, small and timid on the sand. Her head was cocked with a sort of infant magnificence that caused a mixture of feelings to rub noses in the limited space of his stomach.

He took to the sun again, selling aqua eyes straight into it's firmament. He felt no pain, no sting of consciousness. It's top half smiled to him over the horizon of ocean, hesitant to leave, promising a glorious return.

"Don't look directly at the sun," Kairi chided softly. "You'll hurt your eyes."  
Silver wisps of hair that guarded his gaze slowly parted; he flicked his bangs up towards her, staring straight into the rich electricity of her azure eyes.

"Well, it doesn't do much compared to what happens when I look in those two blue ones."

Her lashes kissed in a startled blink-- color crept at her cheeks that he knew wasn't from the sunset, and her delicate pink lips formed an admirative smile.

"You know, you look really good in that light."

The end

Hehe, now Riku will wanna freeze time in that position, won't he? Yeah, the ton of the dialogue at the beginning wasn't in my original vision, but i like it, so whatev. Thanks for reading:)


	2. Story 2: Here In Your Arms

Riku and Kairi- Here In Your Arms

by Jeccelo

This was inspired by a fan fic I read where Riku and Cloud played electric guitars together- In this one Riku sings "Here (In Your Arms)" by Hellogoodbye with Kairi- I absolutely love this song, as lots of kids i know do, and if you don't, pleaz no flaming, thanx. Anywho this could be another RikuxKairi kinda thing but it doesn't necessarily have to be... . we'll let the fangirls decide that one. And yes, I know Riku and Kairi are Japanese and wouldn't normally listen to Hellogoodbye, but sorry, I'm American, this is a fan fiction, and Hellogoodbye rocks!! . It's just a sweet&simple song, and this two are a sweet&simple pairing. (if they come across to you that way)

This takes place at the end of KH2, in place of the clip after the credits.

_One sunset, in the basement of their cottage..._

"Where did you get it?" she asked him. Wisps of her strawberry hair brushed against his bare shoulders as she leaned forward to watch him work.

He lifted the electric guitar carefully from it's case, surprised at the flatboard's cool, smooth surface, so much like the hilt of his sword. He ran the palms of his fingers over the strings, brushing away a layer of dust.

"It's from back home... I've always had it here, I just haven't bothered to take it out."

"And you didn't tell Sora and I about it?" She tugged chidingly at a strand of his crystalline hair.

"Hey, I was preoccupied," he said with halfhearted defense.

"I didn't even know you played the guitar."

"That's because instead of coming to the auditorium after school where Zeke and I would play, you went to your friend's house. To talk about me, of course."

"Of course," she droned. "But you know, in this world, a little heads-up is useful."

Dropping the discussion, she admired the instrument's body. It was shaped as most were, mostly black, with deep blue outline. The guitar's head in Riku's left hand was nigh a replica of the heart amulet chained to his sword.  
His fingers strayed towards the volume knob on the guitar's body, twisting it slightly, and then set it atop his knee. Kairi moved from behind him to the floor before him and watched fondly as he plucked for a moment at the strings.

No sound came out, but he would occasionally slip to the knobs again and adjust them as needed, until his fingers worked a graceful single-stroke down the row of strings, and a pleasant acoustic chord rang through.

"Yeah, 'thought so," he murmured to himself. "I was getting worried there. We'll keep it on acoustic since we don't have an amplifier."

"'Kay, play something!" Her smile was eager, excited.

He sold her a priceless stare of doubt.

"I haven't touched this for three years. Are you sure you want to hear me?"  
"Oh, c'mon, the Riku I know isn't that sensitive."

He shrugged, sighing, and looked down at the strings.

"You remember that one song we really loved? Dang, who was the artist...?"  
He bit his lip, thinking.

"Johnny Rzeznick?" she offered.

"No... Hellogoodbye, that's it." He smirked, plucking a few random chords, trying to make sense of them.

"'Here In Your Arms'..."

She watched his face, loving the memory that danced across it, shaped his lips in a nonchalant pucker, seasoning his downcast gaze in long, lost love. Through his long bangs she watched his lashes blink, half listening to the chords he produced, the frets he tested.

Finally he seemed to have found the proper octave. He played a serious of chords that all harmonized together, and then began an official intro. And then began to sing in tender, quiet tone.

"_I like... where we are... when we drive... in your car. I like... where we are... here."_

Her heart leapt-- his voice was wonderful, perfectly in tune, with a matured tenderness that made her rest her chin in her hand, her elbow on her leg, and find the only thing she could do was sit and stare at him, and love the lyrics of the song.

"_'Cause our lips... can touch... and our cheeks... can brush. Our lips... can touch... here."_

He met her eyes and smiled, playing a continuation of chords as filler.

"C'mon, sing with me."  
She blinked and shook her head, wrinkling her nose.

"N-no, I..."

"C'mon!" He chuckled. "What?"

"I... Riku--"  
He sang, "_Well you are the one, the one who lies close to me..." _

He trailed off, smiling at her, waiting with a raised brow.

She sighed and smiled back, swept in memory, suddenly sensing the smell of their old school, the sound of teenagers socializing...

"_Whispers 'hello, I've missed you quite terribly'..." _she sang timidly, almost inaudibly at first, but then gently gaining tone. He joined in with her.

_"I fell in love, in love with you suddenly, now there's no place else I could be but here in your arms..."_

He played an impressive interlude, fingers fluently working pleasant chords, and then cued her with a nod. They sang softly as a mother would to her dozing infant.

"_I like... where you sleep... when you sleep... next to me. I like... where you sleep..._"  
--and he stopped singing, striking a chord and letting it ring, as she finished alone--

"..._here_..."

They shared a grin and he picked back up again.

"_Our lips..._" he began,  
"_...can touch_," she finished.

"_And our cheeks_..."  
"..._can brush_."  
"_'Cause our lips_..."

"..._can touch_..."

"_...here_," they sang together.

She moved closer to the guitar, scooting directly in front of him, and mirrored his smile as they sang.

"_Well, you are the one, the one that lies close to me. Whispers 'hello, I've missed you quite terribly'. I fell in love, in love with you suddenly, now there's no place else I could be but here in your arms."_

He played an interlude again, carrying the chords in a new, more jumbled style, and then sang,

"_Our lips... can touch..."_

He struck a chord.

_"Our lips... can touch... here."_

He carried on some more, playing a beautiful build-up to when he nodded again at her, and she took it alone.

"_You are the one, the one that lies close to me. Whispers 'hello, I've missed you quite terribly..."_

He joined her.

_"I fell in love, in love with you suddenly, now there's no place else, I could be but here in your-- You are the one--"_

She fumbled the lyrics, thrown off by forgetfulness that the chorus was not to be completed on that round. They shared a gentle laugh.

"Sorry," she said, blushing.

"No problem, Kai." Their chuckles wore off, but not their smiles, and he started them up again.

_ "You are the one, the one that lies close to me, whispers 'hello, I miss you, I miss you! I fell in love, in love with you suddenly, now there's no place else, I could be but here in your arms."_

He approached a tasteful semi-finish...

"_Here in your arms_," she chanted, fondly watching his face.

A few more seconds...

"_Here in your arms_." He let a chord hum, fingers lifting stylishly.

A heart beat passed, and she instantly clapped, beaming.

"Hey, applaud yourself," he said, lying the guitar horizontal on his knees, flicking scattered bangs from his eyes.

"I am," she fibbed.

"Great, now applaud for me."

"I was!"

He stared at her, then shook his head and chuckled, looking down.

"Really, Riku, that was awesome."

"Was it?" he leaned forward, draping his arms around his knees, pressing the guitar against his curved chest.

"Yeah... I didn't think I'd be able to play a note."  
"Now I remember," she said, nodding. "We loved that song, didn't we?"  
He grinned.

"Yeah, us country folk. Not strong rockers."

"There's nothing wrong with that," she said indignantly, and then, acting by spontaneous desire, leaned forward over his knees to hug his neck.

He blinked, holding her torso to keep her balance.

"Thanks for playing for me," she said. "And singing."

He had no time to reply, but he wasn't going to anyway.

"Riku! Kairi!"

Sora's voice came from the main floor of the cottage. The door to the small basement opened, throwing brilliant light tumbling down the stairs.

Kairi pulled away from Riku's shoulders, the two looking up at Sora's sillouhette.

"We got a message from the king!" he called urgently. In his hand they could see a bottle.

"Come quick!"

Kairi inhaled in surprise, turning to Riku.

He nodded.

"C'mon!"

Setting the guitar down, he climbed to his feet, taking her outstretched hand and helping her up.

She didn't let go of it as they rushed to the stairs.

The End

ever wondered what that song would sound like transposed to a guitar? Well, i've tried to imagine it. Hope you guys liked it, reviews are appreciated! .


	3. Story 3: Accidental Destiny

Story 3:

ACCIDENTAL DESTINY

by Jeccelo

It was strange being in this spot at noontime instead of sunset, but Kairi kind of liked the change. It was about time they just kicked back and relaxed. They lived on an island! Why not make the most of it? Only really rich people lived on islands, she thought, smiling to herself.

Riku and Sora were out in the water, trying to shove the other under the water while at the same time trying to recover as they were engulfed in a coming wave. The wind was on the ocean's side, and Kairi took high amusement at seeing her two friends make clowns of themselves.

Of course, they enjoyed it, being teenage boys.

She leaned back on the blanket they had set in the sand and admired them both. She had never seen them in swimming trunks before, and the sight was rather eye-opening. It had been a pleasure to see Sora blush when first meeting her eyes with them on-- even Riku had appeared timid, but it had worn off in the fraction of a second as the two had taken for the shallow water.

Sora's hair was bent under the weight of the ever-pounding water, his bangs interfering with his tussle with Riku. He was small and skinny, a simple boy that could have been seen anywhere and taken as the most usual teenager. The flawless jubilation about his bright eyes was something she had loved all these years, and yet over the past few days, had learned they were for another girl to love too.

She looked over at Riku, and this time felt an unfamiliar heat that she was sure wasn't the sun caress her cheeks. Sora was fourteen. She had seen fourteen-year-old boys.

But Riku was seventeen. She had _not_ seen seventeen-year-old boys, at least not in this dimension, and it made her giggle to herself. Who would have thought the male seventeen-year-old chest would contrast so greatly with the fourteen-year-old one. She found herself watching his shoulders, balancing their broadness with the slim tightness of his waist. When she was called to the attention of his hair, pressed and disarrayed around his neck and shoulders and reflective of the sunlight, she burst into embarrassed laughter.

Looking down, she rummaged through the bowl of fruit she had provided for pleasure. She came across one strange one she had remembered acting curiously towards, and picked it just because it looked edible. It was gold and shaped somewhat like a lumpy star, with one large leaf at it's head. She shrugged it off, taking it out of the bowl but not eating it just yet.

Riku and Sora were emerging from the water, soaked to the bone and looking thoroughly elated. A few words were passed between them, mixed in with some laughter, that Kairi could not hear, and then Sora ran ahead of him, approaching her.

"Be right back," he said quickly, and leapt over the blanket into the foliage behind her.

Riku approached the blanket, and she tried her hardest not to look at him, for fear of what strange thing would happen next inside her mind.

"You hungry?" he asked, breathing heavily. "I'm starved out of my mind."  
"Well, there's this crazy thing called 'eating' that's been discovered-- I used to think it was instinctive," Kairi said, and absent-mindedly handed him the strange fruit.

"Here."  
"Thank you," he panted, and took it without looking at it. He stared out over the ocean as he lifted a knife to cleave it just by touch.

"It' strange to not see the sun there," he said, setting the knife down. "Out on the horizon. To just see never-ending water."  
"Yeah," she said. "We don't do this enough. Just be out here, in the water."

"What _do_ we do?" he asked, looking at her, puzzled.

She stared into his eyes for a long moment with a similar expression, and then shrugged.

"I don't know," she said ironically.

He shrugged as well, and looked back out over the water.

"You want some?" he asked suddenly, holding out the other half of the severed fruit.

She decided she would try it.

"Thanks." Their hands met as they exchanged the fruit, and the water on his skin felt cool on her dry warmth.

He bit into it and lowered himself down on his back, looking up at the sky.

"Riku?" she asked.

"Hm?"

"You're seventeen, right?"  
He shifted his head to look at her.

"Uh... yeah."

She smiled slyly to herself and looked out on the water.

"Okay."

"Why do you ask?"  
"No reason."

He sensed the pinch of mischief in her voice and raised an eyebrow.

"Well, _something_ must have lead you to ask it."

"You're right," she said, steeling a glance of his chest rising and falling in the cycle of his breathing.

"It certainly was _something_."

He only stared, lost, and she stifled a giggle as she took a bite of the fruit. It was soft, like an apricot, and so very sweet. She wondered why she hadn't seen more on the island, but didn't voice it.

Minutes passed in silence, and then Sora returned. In his arms was Riku's guitar.

"What the..." Riku sat up. "Where'd you get that?"  
"The house," Sora said, lifting an eyebrow mockingly. "The only place anything can be kept beside the trees and the water, derr."

"How'd you know I had it?"  
"Oh, c'mon Riku, does it matter?" Kairi said, giggling.

"Well... no." Riku placed the almost fully-eaten slice of fruit down on the blanket.

"Here," Sora said, holding it out. "Play something!"

Riku sighed, and then extended his arms.

"Okay... 'think I can dig up some forgotten skill."  
"Ppff," Sora said. "I heard you play for Kairi."

Riku and Kairi shared glances, and she was the one to look away, color crawling at her cheeks.

As he took the guitar in his hands and began to lower it down to his lap, Riku caught a glimpse of the fruit he and Kairi had been eating. He paused, recognizing it's texture, color, shape...

His jaw fell open.

He watched Kairi lick her fingers as she finished her half of the papou fruit.

The End

you guys all believe that legend, don't you? Good.lol


	4. Story 4: The Object Lesson

Story 4:

**The Object Lesson**

_Riku x Kairi_

by Jeccelo

**A/N: **Hehe had his inspiration when... I was first gonna draw Cloud and Aeris eating different parts of an oreo (Cloudchocolate, Aeriswhite middles) but then i remembered A Thousand Times so i decided it would be a cute thing to stick with Riku and Kairi! Cuz these stories are supposed to be very fwuffy ;)

I'm a 'Just-The-Chocolate-Sides-Eater' Forever! hehe. Also i was listening to the Moulin Rouge soundtrack when I wrote this, so it's theme is "Your Song" by Elton John but i've only heard the Ewan McGregor version...;) lolhehe

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It was an assembly line of appetite, and it worked, too. They hadn't worried about what kind of mess they would make, or how sick they'd be after. It simply just didn't matter. When was the last time either of them had a care in the world when together?

Riku didn't think twice about setting the white middles on the table top-- he knew Kairi would be right there to pick it up and eat it after him. It had been the same way with the pumpkin cookies last week-- while he picked out all the chocolate chips, he would set them right in her palm as she dozed off to the music playing and ate them without a second thought. It was one of those natural things, you know?

Riku couldn't help shooting a fond smile at her open palm, her elbow atop the table beside his. He casually folded his legs on the table surface next to the Oreo box, and opened another one of said cookie with his fingertips. In routine, he took the knife in one hand while he supported the oreo with the other, and ran it's sharp edge under the slab of white middle. After successfully removing it, he placed it in Kairi's waiting palm before setting one of the chocolate ends on his tongue and chewing carelessly.

Now, how many had that been? He looked at the table. Two empty sleeves of oreos sat with gangs of crumbs nestled in the back. Oh, so this was what, their thirtieth oreo? Hm. Whatever. He popped the second chocolate end into his mouth, and went to work separating the next oreo into lights and darks.

Four more cookies passed this way, as the other twenty nine had before, with just he and his chocolate ends and she and her white middles. He was disgusted with what she ate, she with what he ate. They both got what they wanted. Happy couple.

The door to the cabin was opened and the sound of the sea broke through for a moment before it was shut away. Sora stood there in the entrance, lifting his arms to stretch and yawn, and then made his way over to the table.

"Wussup?"  
Riku eyed him nonchalantly, just having set a chocolate end in his mouth.

"Ihh hiia heh--" he attempted to speak, gesturing his mouth. Sora drew back, holding up his hands and closing his eyes.

"Yeh, yeh, okay-- no-- just wait."  
Riku shrugged, chewing, and smirked as Sora shook his head and walked passed into the kitchen.

Rummaging could be heard while Riku prepared yet another oreo.

"Don't you get sick of those?" Sora called.

Riku didn't answer right away but was swallowing his bite while passing the newly removed white middle to Kairi.

Kairi leaned across the table as he did, and as soon as she had taken the white middle, jumped after his hand to touch a brisk kiss on his knuckles.

Riku blinked, his hand frozen where it stood, and slowly let his head fall backwards to stare at her in surprise. Her upside-down image giggled and waved at him, and after a moment of composing, Riku smiled. His teeth were rimmed in chocolate, and she drew back, contorting her face in half grin, half disgust.

"Ew!" She laughed, closing her eyes, and Riku only smiled wider. For some reason his neck didn't get tired.

The sounds of Sora's rummaging still accompanied the scene, and he remained oblivious to what passed between them. Kairi turned her smiling gaze back to the upside-down face of Riku, who had closed his mouth and was polishing his teeth with his tongue, smiling through it nonetheless.

She reached over him to take an oreo from the sleeve, and used it as an excuse for their closeness, in which she leapt down again to speedily kiss his chocolate-rimmed mouth with exaggeratedly puckered lips.

This time he physically blanched, before his veins shifted gears a second later and pumped a gallon of blood into his cheeks. She only smiled, carving out her own white middle from the oreo.

Slowly his head lifted, and his features remained sprawled in utter shock, as if pulled by some alteration of gravity.

She giggled into her snack, holding her chin to be sure no cream fell from her mouth while she laughed.

"Hm? Riku?" Sora called, lifting his eyes. "Don't you get sick of so many oreos?"  
Riku swallowed, and ran fingertips blankly over the corners of his mouth.

"Erm... nope."

He twisted in his seat, and looked at her. She averted her gaze, smiling, pretending to admire a painting on the wall. Finally she gave in, and snagged onto his eyes.

"Not at all," he finished, smiling into the back of her head. She checked herself, as if her shirt had something to do with his gaga-ing, but nothing about her seemed peculiar, at least not to her.

"How in the world could I get tired of _that...?_" He lolled his head back over the top of his chair again, grinning, pumping self-consciousness into her like air into a vacuum.

"What?" she whispered, beginning to grow annoyed, though she giggled inspite of herself.

"What did you expect?" he whispered back, half-mouthing it.

She was about to respond when Sora appeared behind her, his hand on the back of her chair. He studied Riku's upside-down head closely, curiously, turning his own to somewhat come to level his angle.

"You are truly Riku," he concluded heavily, and made his way around the table to the other side.

Riku laughed and pulled up his head, watching him.

"What's that supposed to mean?"  
"Nothing," Sora said, shrugging.

He set a box of Vanilla Wafers on the table.

Riku raised his eyebrow.

"Are you challenging us?" he asked. "To an eating match? Because you were owned an hour ago."

"No," Sora said, reaching into the box and popping a cookie into his mouth. He chewed for a moment, nodding, and then explained.

"I am merely offering a wonderful object lesson of life," he said.

"Oh, really."  
"Really. Look here. You take the dark ends of the oreos, Kairi takes the white middles. I take the vanilla. Kairi's angelic, you're demonic, and I'm just plain gorgeous."  
Kairi laughed. Riku lifted an eyebrow.

"And that all lines up scientifically."  
"Yep."

"Despite the fact that it made no sense whatsoever and was completely random."

"That's the beauty of it!" He raised a cookie to accentuate, before lowering himself and placing it in his mouth.

"Angelic, demonic, plain gorgeous," he murmured to himself, then pointed to Riku as he chewed.

"You remember that. It will do you good."  
"Right." 

The End

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**A/N**: Hehe, like the random ending with Sora? Yeah, i like Sora, and i like to experiment with his joking attitude, and i wanted the whole light-dark-middle ground thing. Hope you liked it, though it was kinda random! lol


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